


Compatibility

by grandmelon



Series: SR Week Feb. 2016 [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Friendship/Love, Love, M/M, SouRin Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 00:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5891779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandmelon/pseuds/grandmelon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day/Prompt: Day 2/Aiko Desho – When We Were Kids</p>
<p>Sousuke wakes up marveling at the circumstances in which he finds himself, and wondering if it’s alright for him to be there, by Rin’s side. Rin finds it cute that Sousuke is worried about something he said ages ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compatibility

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually an idea I had when thinking about shoujo-loving Rin, it just made total sense that’d he’d be into zodiacs and stuff. I’m not exactly sure if what I wrote affects the Eastern zodiac (sidereal zodiac), but it doesn’t change the Western one (tropical zodiac) and the “13th zodiac” has been talked about for years already but no one has actually really added it, if anyone’s confused. Either way I hope people find it fun even if they’re not into that kind of stuff!

Sousuke woke up that day to miserable morning light and the acute knowledge that a thin sheen of sweat was building up on his back and neck. He struggled to open his eyes, cursing under his breath as he saw the dreaded summer sun piercing through their shades. The blackout curtains had been forgotten in the haze of last night allowing thin streams of light to peak through. He let out a shallow breath as the body beside him shifted in sleep. Sousuke’s gaze swept down to soft skin over tough back muscles, bunching up and relaxing as their owner’s arms curled around a pillow.

 

He closed his eyes and threw off the comforter that had been pushed onto him. It slid to the floor without a heavy sound, but Sousuke kept still just in case. When he was sure the movement and noise didn’t wake up his sleeping beauty he rubbed at his eyes. If Rin wasn’t up that meant it was far too early for him to consider doing anything except falling back asleep. He shifted on his side with as much care and caution as he could manage, fixing himself so he could watch the other sleep. His back rose and fell with each breath, face soft and angelic in sleep, drool at a safe distance and on something other than Sousuke's shoulder.

 

Sousuke could count the times he woke up to this on one hand, albeit Rin was usually awake and waiting for him. Still, he wasn’t sure he was going to get used to it, he couldn’t imagine getting used to it. The way his heart would stutter when he realized the other was there, the way it would pick up when he looked at him. He didn’t think that would change, because Rin looked beautiful in the morning. Maybe even more beautiful than he did in the light of their treasured sunsets.

 

Rin was beautiful in his dishevelment, and Sousuke particularly liked the way Rin’s hair splayed across his pillow in a tangled mess. He chided himself for that. Rin was surely going to remember just who pulled out his hair tie, likely losing it for the rest of eternity, and caused his hair to turn into a “bird’s nest.” Not that Sousuke could have stopped himself from running his fingers through those thick tresses. No, not when being able to touch them freely was still so new.

 

His eyes pricked with tears as a yawn escaped him. Rin’s side rose higher than before and he flipped onto his back, stretching as he took a deep breath. His arms stretched up above them and Sousuke marveled at the arch of his back, his legs going taught before he went slack against the bed. Like a lazy cat he twisted onto his side, curling up with his knees knocking into Sousuke’s thighs. His arms curled around his pillow once more, pulling it down into his chest.

 

Rin’s eyes blinked open, adjusting to the light at first, before they focused on Sousuke’s shirt, following it up to meet his gaze. His eyes grew wider when he noticed that Sousuke was awake. He rubbed the back of his hand against his mouth and cheek in obvious embarrassment before flashing him a smile. Sousuke's heart fluttered at the way Rin always seemed to glow in the morning. Unable to help himself, he lifted a free hand to brush the hair behind Rin's ear, an insignificant question prodded at his brain.

 

“Morning.”

 

“Morning,” Sousuke replied, though his mind was elsewhere. He let his arm settle against Rin’s waist, fingers tugging on the black cotton of his tank top. Rin sighed, his eyes fluttering closed again and Sousuke felt his own eyes falling shut, the weight of them finally building up.

 

He was still so unused to this, and though he knew it was through mutual feelings that he got there it still felt unreal. How could something so perfect have happened to him? How could Rin be here in his arms, looking just as content and happy as he was? When he closed his eyes he could still see a twelve year-old’s charming smile. He could hear the flipping of magazine pages and one of his many romantic proclamations of love, and how none of it could be for Sousuke.

 

“There’s rumor they added a new zodiac constellation,” Sousuke started. A little voice that sounded suspiciously like Rin told him he would be more upset if Rin figured out how long Sousuke had been mulling over this. Another, more logical voice in his opinion, is telling him he is an absolute idiot for even mentioning it this early in the day. He should have casually said it during lunch, or pretended to read it online or in the paper.

 

He saw the confusion take over Rin’s expression first before irritation as Rin’s alarm started to scream at them. Sousuke covered one ear wondering how on earth he had managed to always sleep through that obnoxious sound. Rin was first to react, hurdling himself over Sousuke and to the desk where is phone lay charging. Its loud vibrating against the hardwood mixed with its insufferable song leaving them both with an instant headache.

 

Rin turned the alarm off and dug the palm of his hands into his eyes before pushing back his hair. Sousuke watched over his shoulder as the other walked back to the bed, sliding over top of him and back onto his side. Rin dropped his head against his pillow and gazed at Sousuke for a second before his eyebrows scrunched up, a crease between his brow forming. It was clear that he wasn’t sure what Sousuke was getting at and needed further elaborating.

 

“Okay? What of it?” he asked and Sousuke’s lips pursed. He shrugged as best he could while lying down before his eyes wandered up to the ceiling.

 

“Well you were always into it when were kids,” he mumbled. “I thought you’d be interested. They’re saying it’s supposed to change everyone’s signs or whatever.”

 

“Okay,” Rin hummed, giving him a look that meant he still wasn’t making sense. The way his mouth turned into a little pout made Sousuke suck in a deep breath. It exited in a hot and irritated puff as he flipped on his back and shrugged once more, embarrassment taking over.

 

“We still wouldn’t be a perfect match, or a good one or whatever.”

 

“Wait what? You lost me. Actually you lost me since the start,” Rin says sitting up. From that angle Sousuke can’t avoid his gaze and he felt more irritated just knowing that he was bringing up something so trivial. Maybe it was just a onetime thing, maybe it was a passing fad, but Rin always seemed to love the romanticism of stars and fated love.

 

“You were always griping about it, how Haru and Makoto were prefect for each other,” he explained, voice stubborn and defensive. “I was just wondering if you were really okay with being someone like me when we don’t match up or whatever but if you forgot all about it then that’s great. I just thought it might bother you or something.”

 

There was silence then, and Sousuke’s eyes couldn’t meet with Rin’s no matter how much his stubbornness told him that was giving in. He felt his face flush and felt foolish for caring about Rin’s ridiculous interests. Besides, they were so young at the time, he had clearly forgotten all about it. If Rin isn’t worry about their mix matched signs and the fabled inevitability of it being a tougher relationship to have than he’d be fine with it to. It wasn’t like he was worried, he was just worried that Rin was worried, that’s all.

 

“Sousuke,” Rin chuckled before the noise bubbled up in his throat and became a full out laugh. Arms wrapped around Sousuke’s shoulders and a there was a sudden weight on his chest. Sousuke couldn’t stop himself from looking at the hair of the man who had just collapsed on top of him in a shaking, giggling mess. “You’re so cute, you idiot!”

 

“Cute?” Sousuke croaked, sitting up and trying to throw the other off, but with little force behind it. Rin wrapped his arms around Sousuke tighter, laughing into his shoulder. He placed strategic, apologetic, kisses against his exposed skin. Sousuke felt like he had some rather rude remarks about that word, but kept them to himself. Besides, he couldn’t think enough to remember them with Rin’s laughter in his ear and his lips leaving butterfly kisses against his skin.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized, knowing how much it bothered him to hear compliments of any nature. “It’s just that I’m surprised, and kind of happy that you remembered that, you know?”

 

“How could I not?” Sousuke sighed, giving in and hugging the other. Rin’s laughter and kisses came to a stop after a little and they both just hugged each other, Rin giving him a squeeze before pulling back. He had a shameless grin on his face, both innocently happy and entirely too smug for Sousuke’s liking all at the same time.

 

“I didn’t know you cared that much about whether or not we were good matches. You didn’t have to worry about all that, it was just for fun anyways. Besides, even if they said we were the worst match of the century there’s no way we wouldn’t work out because it’s you and me,” Rin promised. He held out his fist between them and Sousuke’s knuckles slid against his in time with the smile on his lips.

 

Somehow it felt like a weight was lifted, a weight he hadn’t realized had been so big before then. He could just remember how devastated he had been when he realized the imperfectness of his sign with Rin's. How much Rin lamented over the misfortune that Makoto and Haru had a perfect match when he had yet to find anyone to match him. Somehow those words had left a hole in his heart, one that was small compared to his failed dreams as a swimmer, but big enough to leave a mark nonetheless.

 

“Besides I checked our full birth charts forever ago and we’ve always matched up well,” Rin commented. Sousuke shoved him back, a false scowl on his face.

 

“You're such a liar. And you said you’d love me even if we didn’t match up,” he scoffed, though he wasn't very convincing.

 

They both broke down into laughs and Rin kissed him again, throwing a leg over Sousuke’s side and tugging at his back, pulling him up and rolling them. Tangled up on the thin sheet still left on the bed and wrapped around each other Sousuke’s lingering doubts of stars and fate and Rin’s romantic notions of love were remedied, because how could they be mismatched with they were so perfect together?

 

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://melonmachinery.tumblr.com)


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